April 17, 2006
Thornton: A true superstar
Center Joe Thornton has 92 points in 57 games since joining the Sharks.
By Wendel Clark

Thornton was enjoying a solid season with the Bruins, notching 33 points in just 23 games, but apparently that was not good enough. The B's shipped him off to the Sharks in exchange for Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau. 

Since the trade, Thornton has torn it up, racking up 20 goals and 72 assists for 92 points in just 57 games with the Sharks. 

Anytime you can get the best player, short-term and long-term, in a trade, you tend to win the deal. 

Thornton, 26, now leads the entire league in scoring with 125 points and is making a strong case for himself for the Hart Trophy, as the league's most valuable player.

Everyone knew Thornton was a good player at the time of the move, but it may have been a bonus for him to go to the West, as many teams tend to play much more open than the Bruins did and the Sharks are benefiting from allowing him to play his game. 

And knowing the type of player that he is, he probably has a lot more fun playing in within the Sharks' system.

San Jose has always had a group of young guys with a lot of talent, but nobody really jumped to the front of the line and said, "Ok, follow me." Thornton has done that with this group day-in and day-out, and it has benefited on the scoreboard and in the standings.

Thornton is the horse on the Sharks' team. He is that type of player that makes everybody around him better, and there aren't a lot of players in the league who can do that.

One player that has dramatically improved his game thanks for Thornton is winger Jonathan Cheechoo.

The 25-year-old, who leads the league in goals with 56, has a centerman that knows how to find him, and that has given him added confidence. He had the ability to be a pretty good goal-scorer, perhaps notching 30 or 35 goals a year, but put him with a great player like Thornton and he has nearly doubled his goal-scoring production.

Thornton is a unique player in a sense that he had a great set of hands, but he is a big-man, as well. He may not play as fancy as a Jaromir Jagr, but he will get in to the physical game, grind it out and put the puck in the net. 

The first-overall pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft is a big guy who can do a lot of things and plays a similar game to that of a Ron Francis in his prime – and he may even be a better skater. 

With the Sharks sitting fifth in the Western Conference, they will be facing the Nashville Predators in the playoffs. 

With today's NHL, the referees should continue to call the game as they have all season long, and that will make a defender's job that much tougher come playoff-time. 

Whichever Predator has the duties of checking Thornton is going to have skate with him each and every game – they just cannot hook and hold him – and that is what is great about the new NHL; the offensive player can dictate the game, rather than the defensive player.

But the playoffs are an entirely new season and anything is possible. If the Sharks want to get passed the first-round, they are going to have to do so collectively as a group. Other guys on the team are going to have to pick it up so it's not always on the one guy.

The grinders, like a Ville Nieminen, Scott Thornton and Kyle McLaren will be called upon to shine and help the team's offensive units and that will be a major factor into San Jose's success.

If the goalies Vesa Toskala and Evgeni Nabokov can hold down the fort, and the Sharks' defensive core can hold off the opposition, Thornton, Cheechoo, Patrick Marleau and company should be able to do their jobs effectively.

Thornton has turned the Sharks into one of the most dangerous teams in the league, and it will be interesting to see how he takes control during post-season action. 
 

Wendel Clark, drafted first-overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, played in 793 career NHL games with six different organizations. Over his career, the former Leafs captain accumulated 330 goals, 234 assists and 1,690 penalty minutes. Now, as a columnist for TheFourthPeriod.com, he offers his "17-cents" on the NHL throughout the entire season. Check out Wendel Clark's column every week, exclusively on TheFourthPeriod.com.